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T O P I C R E V I E W

moorouge

Call it the ramblings of a senile mind, but it occurs to me that ever since mechanical structures were built those associated with them have referred to them as 'she'. Ships, aircraft and cars are the obvious examples. In fact, my current car - a blue Toyota - is affectionately called 'Janet' after my late partner.

With this in mind, does anyone know if spacecraft, both manned and unmanned, were ever referred to as 'she' by those that built, serviced, controlled, or flew them? Is it possible that a question such as, "How's Voyager 2 doing?" is answered by, "Oh! She's fine.".

space1

If I recall correctly, Crippen referred to Columbia in those terms during memorial services for the lost crewmembers.

Jim Behling

All types are "it's", whether, shuttle, launch vehicle or satellite, in places I worked.

Ronpur

I have heard pilots referring to them as "her" far more often than the engineers! LOL

Robert Pearlman

For what it is worth, some of the Boeing engineers working on CST-100 refer to the capsule as "him."

Shuttle managers, technicians, engineers and astronauts alternated between "it" and "her," depending on the person.

From an editorial viewpoint, all spacecraft are inanimate objects and therefore are always referred to as "it."